Installation



1) Install ActivestatePerl (http://www.activestate.com/)

2) Get at least two additional Perl modules. The simpliest way
   to do this is to just add them via ppm:

	- GD: run "ppm install http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppms/GD.ppd"
	  if you are running Perl 5.8, or
	  "ppm install http://theoryx5.uwinnipeg.ca/ppmpackages/GD.ppd"
	  if you are running Perl 5.6.1

	- Win32::Daemon: run 
	  "ppm install http://www.roth.net/perl/packages/win32-daemon.ppd"

3) Unpack the Big Sister "NTpre.zip" package e.g. as C:\bigsis

4) cd into the \bigsis\bin directory and run

	perl install32

   IMPORTANT: If you already have had a Big Sister installation on
   the machine please shut down any Big Sister Service and do a 

   	perl install32 -r

   before step 4. Sometimes Windows refuses to immediately delete
   existing services (check back in the Service Manager: if the
   Big Sister services are still there and marked "deactivated"
   Windows had some problem ...). In this case you'll have to
   reboot the machine, sorry.

5) edit configuration files in adm\ directory

6) start the service manager from the control panel, find the
   Big Sister services and set their start mode to whatever
   suits you best. Start the services you want to run.

7) Big Sister should work, now. Please don't ask me for a guide
   on how to set up IIS :-)



Important news




  Instsrv/Srvany

  In order to run former versions of Big Sister as a service you 
needed to install Instsrv/Srvany which were not freely available. This 
is still supported but no longer needed. Provided you installed the 
Win32::Daemon module (see step 2) of the installation procedure above) 
you do not need any additional tools.


  Stand-alone (.exe, non-Perl) version

  The compiled version of Big Sister 0.98 running stand-alone without 
the need for an installed Perl interpreter will be released within 
the next few weeks. However, it will not be freely (where "freely"
means "at no cost") be available.


  System Type

Please do use one of

	DESCR features=windows,windows2000 localhost
	DESCR features=windows,windowsxp localhost
	DESCR features=windows,windowsnt4 localhost

in the uxmon-net file in order to tell uxmon-net what system it
runs on.


  Sensors

  The "diskfree" test is now obsolete. Please do use the "disk" test
for monitoring disk free space as on every other platform.

The "procs" test now does not monitor services any more. Instead,
the procs test monitors running processes (as seen in the Task
Manager / Processes Tab). This is much more consistent with the
behaviour on other platforms.

If you want to still monitor running services then please just use
the new "services" test.